# LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.! 



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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. J 



THE 



ORATION 



FOURTEENTH ANNIVERSARY 



AMERICAN INSTITUTE 



DELIVERED BY 



JOHN OVERTON CHOULES, 



BROADWAY TABERNACLE, 



OCTOBER, 1841. 






NEW-YORK: 



PRINTED BY J. VAN NORDEN & CO., 
No. 27 Pike-Street. 

1842. J 



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<>£> 



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Niblo's Garden, 

New-York, Oct. <22d, 1841. 
Dear Sir, 

The Managers of the Fourteenth Annual Fair of " the American Institute of 
the City of New- York" gratefully acknowledge their obligations to you for the 
timely relief afforded by your prompt acceptance of their invitation to deliver the 
Anniversary Address last evening — which invitation was delayed by the interven- 
tion of unexpected circumstances, and did not come to the knowledge of the 
Managers until within a few hours of the time which had been announced for this 
part of the celebration. 

The important facts contained in your Address, and their bearings on the 
vital interests of Agriculture and productive industry generally, and the patriotic 
sentiments it is calculated to inspire if extensively read, are the reasons for soliciting 
from you the further favour of a copy for publication. 

On behalf of the Managers, 

T. B. WAKEMAN, 

Chairman of Pub. Committee. 
The Rev. J. O. Choules. 



T. B. Wakeman, Esq., Chairman of the Publishing Committee 

of the 14th Annual Fair of the American Institute: 

Dear Sir, — I have received your kind favour, requesting a copy of the 
Anniversary Address for publication. 

You are perfectly aware that it was not prepared for such an important 
occasion, or such an immense assembly as that to which I was summoned at 
two hours' notice, through the unavoidable absence of the learned and honourable 
gentleman who was to have gratified and instructed the friends of Commerce, 
Agriculture and Manufactures. 

The subject which I selected is one, too, little appreciated by the inhabitants 
of cities and towns, and I think far too seldom brought before their attention ; 
and yet it is full of interest, and admits of popular discussion. The kind 
reception which the address met with on its delivery, and the frequent applications 
I have had to repeat it in other places, induce me to comply with your request, 
although I am quite aware that the Oration is better calculated for the audience 
than the press. 

With best wishes for the success of the Institute and respect for the 
Managers, 

I am ; very faithfully yours, 

JNO. O. CHOULES. 



ORATION 



Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the American Institute : 

" Our Country," is a phrase of wide and endearing import. 
Poetry has sung its charms, patriotism has felt them, and piety 
has consecrated them. And what a country, fellow citizens, 
does God permit us to call our own ! There is our long At- 
lantic coast, with more than two thousand one hundred miles 
of seaboard, skirting states containing more than one million of 
square miles. There, too, is our imperium in ijwperio, the Valley 
of the West, lying between the Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, 
the Alleganies and the Rocky Mountains, containing two mil- 
lions of square miles, one hundred thousand miles of internal 
ship and steam-boat navigation, four thousand miles of rail-road, 
two thousand miles of lake, and one thousand of gulf. All this 
extent embraces the best variations of climate upon the globe, 
comprehending exactly those degrees which have been ever 
marked by the genius and enterprise of man. 

Our land is a mart for the nations, a workshop for the earth ; 
every ocean is white with our canvass, and we have learned to 
press into our service steam as it rises, water as it flows, air as 
it flies. We have almost the only Constitution that deserves 
the name — freedom for every citizen, liberty breathing full and 
free through all our institutions — thus cherishing a spirit of enter- 
prise, a security that holds out a protecting bounty to each in- 
dividual, rendering every citizen assured of the full enjoyment 
of all lawful acquisition ; and in addition to this, the law does all 
that for every man's religion which true religion asks, wishes or 
wants, and that is, — lets it alone. 



6 

With a lamentable exception of three millions, our people 
are free, and are characterized by strength, ingenuity and pa- 
tience ; they present, in body and mind, the noblest materials for 
the formation of national greatness. 

I believe you are all disposed, after this brief survey, to ex- 
claim with me of the Giver of every good gift, who hath thus 
ordered the bounds of our habitation — " He hath not dealt so 
with any other people." 

How little did Columbus understand of the true nature and 
bearing of his mission, when, with a heart big with mighty pro- 
jects, he walked in silence on the sjiores of Andalusia, and 
watched the star of evening down the western sky ! Little did 
he dream that he was about to open another Paradise to thou- 
sands driven from their homes, not by the wrath of their Maker, 
but the rage of their brethren ; that he was the instrument in 
the hands of God to throw open an asylum to which the feet of 
the oppressed would direct their course from all lands for pro- 
tection, and to which the imploring eye of misery would be 
turned, from almost every scene of human wretchedness. And 
now, after almost four centuries have passed away, what do we 
see ? Nation upon nation, long reposing in the lap of its 
rulers, is starting up to action, and animated and incited to 
hope by our blessedness, is making its way for this lighthouse 
of the world.* An attraction in the material world is ever 
withdrawing particles of matter from whatever is old, and com- 
bining them in newer and more beautiful forms ; so a moral in- 
fluence is withdrawing subjects from the old and worn-out 
governments of Europe, and hurrying them across the Atlantic, 
to participate in the renovated youth of our western republic. 
It is an influence which, like that of nature, is universal, with- 
out pause or relaxation, and hordes of emigrants are continu- 
ally swarming off, as ceaseless in their passage, and as crowded 
and as unreturning, as the travellers to eternity. Even those 
who are forced to remain feel a melancholy restlessness, like a 
bird of passage whose wing was broken at the season of emi- 
gration, and they look at America as the land of the dear de- 

* Douglass. 



parted, where every one has some near relative or dear friend 
gone before him. In all Europe a voice, like that heard before 
the final ruin of Jerusalem, seems to whisper to such as have 
ears to hear, "Arise, let us depart hence." 

But why does the public teacher of Christianity appear upon 
such an occasion ; does he not transcend his appropriate duty 
when he talks of the details of earthly actions ? ' 

I feel myself entirely in the discharge of appropriate duty 
when I advocate the ordination of Jehovah, and speak of the 
most ancient, honourable and satisfying employments that ever 
occupied the intelligent creation. 

I cannot but regard agricultural improvement as closely con- 
nected with a prosperous state of morality and religion ; for the 
inculcations of Christianity, neatness, order, and consequently 
taste, find their natural sphere in rural pursuits. The habits of 
life, and the sentiments which accord with husbandry, are highly 
congenial to the genuine spirit of religion ; and a well conducted 
farm should be the home of devotion, tranquillity and peace. 

I greatly fear that the moral influences flowing from the cul- 
tivation of the rural sciences are inadequately appreciated by 
too many. Every minister of religion should aim to call out 
and encourage the observation and curiosity of the young ; he 
should train them up around him as querists ; he should himself 
remember, and let them never forget, that Newton, by observing 
the fall of an apple, was led on to the discovery of the sublime 
principles of the material world. O, how much can be done 
for happiness and comfort in a country parish by a well edu- 
cated minister ! what transformations he may effect — what im- 
provements he may suggest — what trains of future action he 
may set off, by a hint, a request, or an example. 

Who that has passed through the town of Worcester, in Mas- 
sachusetts, has not admired the taste and beauty of its well 
planted trees and shaded avenues ? All this, I believe, was de- 
vised and commenced by a young minister, who, without any 
resources but of taste and genius, applied himself and a few 
kindred spirits to the work of moulding the taste and habits of 
the community. He was one of four ministers who formed the 
Worcester County Agricultural Society, and in that county 



many of the ministers have been successful farmers, and they 
have received as many premiums as any other class of men. 
And while I speak of Massachusetts, and refer to the clergy, I 
am sure you are all of you reminded of the indebtedness of 
every man who cultivates the American soil to that able farmer, 
that distinguished philanthropist and eloquent teacher, the Rev. 
Henry Coleman, late Agricultural Commissioner for the Com- 
monwealth. When I read his reports and letters to the yeo- 
manry of New-England, I wish that his voice could be heard in 
every farm of our State and Union.* 

Mitchell, in his agricultural tour through Holland, states, that 
each Divinity student, before being licensed, has to attend two 
years lectures upon agriculture. I have no doubt that the use- 
fulness of the clergy is much augmented by this step, and that 
their future influence over the manners and habits of the country 
is greatly increased. 

When I think of the state of society in our country, I wish 
that many, very many, of the Lord's prophets were themselves 
husbandmen, or at least fond of rural pursuits, and distinguished 
by their attachment and devotion to nature ; for what beautiful 
teachings there are in that volume which the Almighty has 
spread open to us ; and to some thoughtless minds the lessons of 
the open field are far more impressive than our discourses of 
the music and harmonies of heaven. Go out into nature, all is 
visible, all is tangible. I can take a leaf, a plant, an insect, and 
from either I can make appeals that the sophist's art, the skeptic's 
hatred, can neither mystify nor evade. I can bring up from 
nature, evidences in favour of my faith in God, that only " a fool" 
can deny. And then nature speaks one universal language, 
and establishes the same facts to all classes and orders of minds. 
Her unity is wondrous, and no inquisitive eye roams far for a 
curious object. No student complains that nature's lessons 
are few, or her colours faint. " Her lines are gone out into all 
the earth, and there is no speech nor language where her voice 



* Since this address was delivered, Mr. Coleman has taken charge of the New 
Genesee Farmer, and will, I doubt not, render that excellent paper more valuable 
and useful than ever. 



is not heard." I long for the day when men shall be told more 
of the material revelation God has made, which admits no change. 
No Vandal hordes can ever blot out its inscriptions, or burn its 
library. Nature's alphabet is made up of only four letters, 
wood, water, rock and soil ; and yet with these four letters she 
forms such wondrous compositions, such infinite combina- 
tions, as no language with twenty-four letters can describe. 
Nature never grows old, she speaks now as ever; she has no 
provincialisms. The lark carols the same song, in the same key, 
as when Adam turned his delighted ear to catch the strain ; the 
owl still hoots in b flat, yet loves the note, and screams through 
no other octave ;* the stormy petrel as much delighted to sport 
among the first waves the Indian Ocean ever raised, as it does 
now. Birds that lived on flies, laid bluish eggs, when Isaac went 
out into the fields to meditate at eventide, as they will two thou- 
sand years hence, if the world does not break her harness from 
the orb of day. The sun is as bright as when Lot entered the 
little city of Zoar. The diamond, and the onyx, and the topaz 
of Ethiopia, are still as splendid, and the vulture's eye as fierce, 
as when Job took up his parable. In short, nature's pendulum 
has never altered its strokes. 

I might magnify your estimate of the value and importance 
of agriculture, by carrying you back to the primeval scenes of 
the world's history ; but who does not remember, that when all 
things were pronounced to be very good, it was amid scenery, 
of which the grouping was made up of a God, a garden, and 
its cultivator, man. The soil whence Adam sprang was the 
granary whence he was to be sustained, and it afforded him at 
last his grave and resting place. 

I might occupy your time in alluding to Patriarchal agricul- 
tural labours, when the world's forefathers worshipped God in 
all the simplicity of nature, tending their flocks by day, and re- 
posing at night in calm serenity beneadi the spreading sky, 
peace their pillow, and piety their guardian angel. I might 
speak to you of Israel's monarch, who planted him vineyards, 
and made him gardens and orchards, and planted in them trees 

* Bayley on Nature. 
2 



10 

of ail kinds of fruit, and who had possessions of great and small 
cattle, above all that were in Jerusalem before him, and who 
spake of trees from the cedar that is in Lebanon, even unto the 
hyssop that springeth out of the wall. And Uzziah and other 
kings, while good and virtuous, had cattle in the plains and low 
country, and husbandmen and vine dressers in the mountains 
and in Carmel, and who loved husbandry. It is not needful, to 
make you see the dignity of agricultural labour, that I carry 
you back to Babylon, Persia or Rome, for you all know that 
wherever liberty, the arts and sciences have flourished, there 
has the patriot encouraged, the statesman protected, and the 
poet praised the art of husbandry. How delightful are the 
glimpses which we obtain of rural life in the literature of 
Greece and Rome ! Laertes pruning his vines, Eurnenes enter- 
taining his king, and Hesiod himself leading us to the very 
cradle and infancy of agriculture. 

" Forget not, when you sow the grain, to mind 
" That a boy follows with a rake behind, 
" And strictly charge him, as you drive, with care 
" The seed to cover and the birds to scare." 

Every schoolboy knows the agricultural glory of old Rome, 
and thinks of Varro, Cincinnatus, Cato, Virgil, Horace and 
Cicero, in connection with the cultivation of their mother earth. 
The history of agricultural improvement is almost the history 
of the world, and comes not within my province ; but it is grati- 
fying that we can trace its most rapid developements in the 
land which contains the tombs of our ancestors, and was the 
birthplace of our language, laws and religion. It was only at 
the close of the fifteenth century that agriculture began to be 
regarded and pursued as a science. Fitzherbert, a Judge of the 
Court of Common Pleas, wrote the earliest piece upon farming,* 

* " The Bookof Husbandry, very Profitable and Necessary for all Persons." He 
also wrote several other pieces. The Judge applied himself as vigorously to hus- 
bandry in the country as to the study of the law in the town. We have a similar 
instance at the present time in the Hon. Daniel Webster, whose thorough acquaint- 
ance with practical farming is exemplified in the very ablest agricultural address I 
have ever read. It was delivered in Boston soon after his return from Europe. It 
is the fullest and most condensed article on husbandry that we have access to, and 
should be reprinted by the American Institute for general distribution. 



11 

about one hundred years before the establishment of Plymouth 
Colony or New-Amsterdam. It was published in 1534. The 
work imparted much interest to the pursuit of husbandry. Tus- 
ser's Five Hundred Points of Husbandry appeared thirty years 
after ; then came Barnaby Goage's " Whole Art and Trade of 
Husbandry." Sir Hugh Piatt turned his mind to the proper 
food of the soil, and wrote " The Jewel Houses." His remarks 
upon manures are sensible, and still in repute. Samuel Hartlip 
wrote an admirable treatise, for which he was rewarded by 
that true-hearted patriot and far discerning statesman, Oliver 
Cromwell, who bestowed upon him a pension. Hartlip has the 
merit of having been the first who recommended a public di- 
rector of husbandry to be established by law. Evelyn and 
Tull are names dear to the well-read and scientific cultivator of 
the soil ; and I join with one who has gone before me in this 
duty, in declaring that Jethro Tull is more deserving of a monu- 
ment than the Duke of Marlboro'.* 

The time would fail me to run over all the names that have 
helped to make England, if not a garden, yet a prodigy of agri- 
cultural wealth, and that little island the wonder of the world. 

Anderson and Hunter, Marshall and Home, Young and Dick- 
son, Sinclair and Davy, Loudon and Knight, Bedford and Spen- 
cer, Coke and Shaw, are the true friends of man, and their 
fame is yet to grow brighter and run in larger circles. 

The glorious era from which all the triumphs of husbandry 
now date, is 1793, when, under the auspices of Sinclair and 
Pitt, the British Legislature incorporated the Board of Agricul- 
ture ; then surveys were made of every county, the resources 
of the empire developed and proclaimed. It is from this 
period that we may regard agriculture as a science. The 
essays published on turning grass land into arable, and the 



* How much it is to be lamented that there is no library in our country where 
even a tolerable collection of the old agricultural authors can be found for purposes 
of reference. It is matter of doubt whether a rich man could do the American Institute 
as much real good in any other way as by presenting it with the means of collecting in 
England some twenty-five or thirty old authors upon husbandry and gardening. 
One hundred dollars would procure all the above named authors, and several others 
who were cotemporary with them. 



12 

culture of the potato, exhibited the ablest talent of Great 
Britain, and have furnished, I believe, some of the most 
valuable volumes ever written. The patronage of the govern- 
ment gave interest to the subject, and the proudest peers of 
England placed their sons with practical farmers for the ac- 
quirement of the details of husbandry. 

A member of the late cabinet devoted three years to all the 
labours of a farm. Now, too, chemistry was brought forward 
to the aid of agriculture, ancl has been one of its firmest pillars. 
In short, we may regard this organization of the agricultural 
society as the origin of the systematic rotation of crops, the im- 
provement in breeds of cattle, use of plaster, the soiling of 
cattle, culture of root crops, and artificial grasses. Comparisons 
led to the establishment of facts, and agriculture may now be 
regarded as an art resting upon facts. 

In almost every portion of Great Britain these societies 
sprang up, and the farmers had the courage and wisdom to 
profit by the improvements which skill and science had intro- 
duced, and the result is, that five millions of all ages produce 
annually from her soil seven hundred millions worth of agri- 
cultural produce. In 17G0 the growth of all grain in England 
and Wales was one hundred and twenty millions of bushels, in 
Scotland thirty millions, making a total of one hundred and fifty 
millions. In 1840 the produce was four hundred and ten mil- 
lions of bushels. Think of seven hundred millions worth of 
produce from that little island, and remember, that competent 
Judges tell us this may still be doubled ! Agriculture has clothed 
Che most barren heaths with luxuriant crops, converted pools 
and marshes into fruitful meadows, and clothed the bleakest 
mountains with groves of forest trees. 

Agriculture has been termed by Sully, the breast from 
-whence the state receives support and nourishment. It is the 
primary source of wealth and independence ; and when the 
soil of a country is in such a state naturally or artificially, as, 
under judicious management, to furnish maintenance for more 
persons than are required for its culture, thence proceeds the 
profits of the farmer, the rents of the landlord, the subsistence of 
the manufacturer and merchant, and the greater proportion of 



13 

the income of the state. That surplus marketable produce is 
justly considered to be the principal source of all political power 
and personal enjoyment; when that surplus does not exist there 
can be no flourishing towns, no naval force, none of the supe- 
rior arts or finer manufactures, no learning, none of the conve- 
niences and luxuries of foreign lands, and none of that cultivated 
and polished society at home, which not only elevates and dig- 
nifies the individual, but extends its beneficial influence through- 
out society. What exertions, then, ought to be made, and encour- 
agement to be given, to preserve and to improve so essential a 
resource, this foundation of national prosperity. Agriculture 
does more than feed, it clothes us : without it we should have no 
manufactures, no commerce. These all stand together like pil- 
lars in a cluster, the largest in the centre, and that largest is 
Agriculture. 

Let us look at our own state — the empire state. Her terri- 
torial extent is ten thousand square miles larger than England 
and Wales. In 1783 she had not half the population of the states 
of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia ; now 
her inhabitants are two million five hundred thousand. Our 
Commonwealth exhibits physical capabilities of wealth and 
greatness existing to an unknown extent, and is fertile in most 
of the productions which minister to the necessities of man. I 
envy not the individual whose heart does not swell when he 
gazes on the bold and magnificent profusion with which the liv- 
ing God has scattered the proofs of his eternal Godhead, and 
with what a vast and awful scale of grandeur he has piled up 
the mountain and spread out the valley, planted the forest and 
poured forth the flood. 

The western portion of our state was, forty years ago, a wil- 
derness — we now point out to it as a garden. In that time 
seventeen millions of acres of forest land have been subdued and 
brought into improvement. One million five hundred thousand 
inhabitants are occupied in the various departments of civilized 
life ; and they are to-day in the peaceful possession of more 
than six hundred millions of property. 

No state in the Union presents to the farmer the means of 
health, independence and abundance, more amply than our 



14 

own ; and we are indeed criminal, if we do not avail ourselves 
of all the lights of science, and the aids of other lands, in prose- 
cuting our onward march. 

Many of my hearers have heard that the revival of agricul- 
ture commenced in Flanders, about seven hundred years ago. 
There the soil was little better than a white barren sand, now its 
increase is said to be twice as great as in England. The grand 
maxim on which the Flemish farmer acts is, " without manure 
no corn, without cattle no manure, and without root crops no 
cattle can be raised." Their success may be resolved into the 
following causes : small farms, careful manure, rotation of crops, 
clover and roots, cutting their forage, and close, undivided 
personal attention. The farmer does not lumber, fish, specu- 
late, nor hold office. 

I have had much opportunity to notice the conduct of our 
western farmers; and I am entirely impressed with the belief 
that most of them would be better off if they were to be de- 
prived of half their lands. Labour and anxiety are all they can 
obtain from the extensive cultivation they now attempt. But 
there is a perfect mania for adding acre to acre. 

The true idea of a farm, is its closest possible resemblance to 
a well-conducted garden. The Flemish farmer never dreams 
of exhausting his soil in one place, then moving off to wear it 
out in another, and then in his old age to commence a new 
clearing of the forest. If I can make ten acres yield me as 
much as one hundred, by affording it all my means of improve- 
ment, and which was required by the one hundred, the conse- 
quence is, that I have profited in my body and mind in an 
astonishing degree. I have saved ten times the ploughing and 
harrowing, ten times the sowing and hoeing, mowing and reap- 
ing, besides ten times the rent. 

I fully expect to see the second crop far more common than 
it is. With our powerful sun, we need only efficient manuring, 
limited extent of soil under cultivation, and an increase of care, 
to effect this. We have all encouragement to persevere, when 
we reflect upon what has resulted from the formation of Agri- 
cultural Associations. We can tell of crops augmented in our 
own state as follows : 



15 



Wheat, 


from 18 


bushels 


per 


acre, 


to 


30 


Corn, 


« 


40 


<< 


« 


ti 


a 


70 


Barley, 


n 


25 


<« 


« 


tt 


a 


40 


Peas, 


«« 


25 


M 


<« 


it 


a 


45 


Oats, 


<< 


40 


«« 


u 


« 


tt 


74-79 


Potatoes, 


u 


200 


tt 


a 


ti 


«< 


475 


Carrots, 


a 


500 


tt 


n 


«< 


(< 


1000 


Sugar Beet, 


'< 


750 


it 


a 


ti 


M 


1500 


Mangel Wurzel," 


600 


ti 


u 


u 


it 


1200 


Ruta Baga. 


u 


500 


(( 


a 


<< 


it 


1200 


Hay, 


CI 


J 3 


tons 


a 


a 


a 


3 tons, 



In New-York we have authenticated reports of 53 bushels of 
wheal, 58 barley, 50 peas, 135 corn, 750 potatoes, and 5 tons of 
hay to the acre. 

It would ill become me to adventure instruction to men who 
have long been conversant with the cultivation of the soil, from 
their habits of labour, or the deep personal interest which they 
have in the land which they possess. But it is proper that I 
should endeavour to call up a more general attention to the 
pursuits of the farmer. Here, in our cities and large towns, 
there are errors in the public mind, strong prejudices, un- 
concealed contempt, and above all, the most unfortunate 
ignorance. 

I am not in danger of contradiction when I declare, that our 
community has regarded money as the chief good, and its 
accumulation has been practically regarded as the chief end of 
man. All the occupation and the energy of life have gone out 
in this direction. To till the ground has been thought disrepu- 
table, I imagine, very principally, because its profits have been 
thought to be slow in their return ; there have been no wonder- 
ful fortunes made in a few months — no food for that preternatural 
restlessness which cupidity has revelled in. What a frightful 
conspiracy there has been going on for years past in our cities 
and towns against the unchangeable law and ordinance of heaven, 
"in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread till thou be turned 
again into the ground." Gen. iii. 19. All classes in our midst have 
been affected. Lawyers, doctors, merchants and ministers 
have turned their minds to the best way of getting rich without 



16 

labour ; and such was the ingenuity of this city, that in one year 
we made property grow ninety-two millions ! 

But in accounting for this popular distaste, let me be more 
particular. I believe that parents have had much to do in the 
creation of this feeling. The men and women who enjoy the 
honour to have been the architects of their own fortunes, seem 
in many cases determined to place their children at the very 
farthest distance from the line of occupation, and the principles 
and methods of life, which have rendered them happy, prosperous 
and respectable. No matter how many children they have, the 
sons are to do with as little labour as may be, and the daughters 
are to be lilies, they are neither to toil or spin. How many a 
parent would feel absolutely insulted if you supposed that he 
intended to put his boy to actual labour of any sort ! When parents 
and children come to the conclusion that the lad must obtain 
his living by some exertion of his own, they put their minds to 
the ra^ck, to discover a way by which it can be done without 
labour. The father, perhaps, has made every cent he possesses 
by toil, yet, under the influence of the day in which we live, he 
cannot endure the idea that his son should be seen in a labouring 
dress, engaged in a mechanical or agricultural employment. 
When will men see the folly of the opinion, that the youth who 
labours on a farm or works in a shop, can be jit for nothing else! 
A young man upon a farm may qualify himself not only to 
pursue his calling, but to take a part in all the public concerns 
of life. ... 

It is idle to talk of the want of time or means for menial 
cultivation upon an American farm. Judge Buel was correct 
when he declared that a man might devote three hours out of 
twenty-four to study, without infringing upon his business, 
fatiguing his mind, or impairing his health, allowing eight hours 
for sleep, ten for labour, and three for contingencies ; and I ask 
what ordinary occupation affords a larger portion of time to 
the acquisition of general knowledge ? Let no man on a farm 
complain of want of opportunity. How many such suffer 
money to be squandered, which would purchase a capital library, 
and fritter away time in taverns, idle talk, and lounging on 



17 

winter evenings, and useless sleep in long nights, which, if 
employed in reading and study, would make them able agri- 
culturists, and fit them for the halls of legislation and the council 
tables of the nation. 

I believe, too, that parents err in placing such an estimate upon 
the talents of their sons, as leads them to select the learned 
professions as the only sphere in which they can have a proper 
scope for exhibition. The principals of our academies and the 
presidents of our colleges will testify, that at the opening of 
every term, and at the annual commencements, they receive 
from fond parents nothing but intellect and genius of "the first 
order" and "greatest promise." Alas, that all this preeminence 
so soon finds its level. 

I have ever regarded the best carpenter in a village as a 
more distinguished man than an ordinary, every day, common- 
place lawyer; the best blacksmith, the ingenious, contriving 
mechanic, as a more valuable and respectable character than 
the half educated, conceited, lounging professional man, who 
has forgotten almost all he learned in the schools, and has never 
made advances in general knowledge since he commenced the 
profession which his apathy and dulness have so served to 
disgrace. The president of one of our colleges remarks, " I 
have long thought that our graduates mistake their path to 
honour and usefulness in making choice of a learned profession, 
instead of converting agriculture into one, as it ought to be." 
Agriculture not a science ! Why, there is hardly a science that 
is not subservient to the promotion of agriculture ; zoology, 
botany, geology, chemistry in a most essential degree, mecha- 
nical sciences, all are connected with it. But the great practical 
problem which this country has to solve, is, to give the speediest 
return to the cultivator, and of yielding the largest amount of 
produce at the smallest proportionate expense ; and though the 
science of theory and expensive experiments may not be 
adapted to the mass of our agriculturists, yet, happily, we have 
a noble class of men of education, property and public spirit, 
capable of weighing the scientific speculations of the wise, and 
with means, and the inclination to apply those means, to a 
practical investigation of the result of theories. 

3 



18 

It is one of the happiest signs of the times, that many young 
men of education and wealth are turning their attention to 
husbandry; they are making a wise choice for their own 
happiness and that of others. Let me quote from Lord Stanley, 
at Liverpool, in relation to the magnitude and vastness of 
agriculture, as affording room for investment. Speaking of 
draining, "I am aware," he says, "that the process of draining 
is an expensive one, which requires an outlay of capital which, 
if we were to take the total of even a single county in England, 
would strike every man as something marvellous and almost 
appalling; and yet I am satisfied of this, that while no landlord 
could expect a tenant to engage in operations so extensive 
without his concurrence and assistance, and without his bearing 
the principal burden of the original outlay, I am firmly persuaded 
of this, that there is no bank in the whole country, no com- 
mercial speculation, no investment, so safe, so sure, so profitable, 
as that in which even borrowed capital may be engaged, by 
investing it under the ground of your own soil." 

I should not be surprised if here, as in England, farming 
came to be a fashionable pursuit ; and almost every man here 
may afford to be in the fashion. We may get our small farms 
of fifty, eighty and one hundred acres, and almost every man 
may enjoy his homestead ; nor need we for this go out into the 
wilderness. We can find good land, at cheap prices, almost at 
our very doors. The opening of that portion of the New- York 
and Erie Rail-Road which is completed, places all the facilities 
of a farm in the reach of every man who covets them. I wish 
I could persuade you all to go and look at the country through 
which the entire route of that road is laid. You would then be 
satisfied that there are the same happy miracles of improvement 
to be accomplished in the southern tier of counties, which have 
blessed and civilized our state on the line of the Erie Canal. 
How strange that any apathy should exist among us in reference 
to this vast and important work, which brings all the produce 
of the west to our doors at all seasons — gives us access to 
New-Orleans in nine days — offers us a western business not 
only in spring and autumn, but during the whole year. 1 am 
sure that in ten years the line of that road will exhibit an appear- 



19 

ance of culture, comfort and opulence, worthy of the great 
highway to the commercial emporium of our country. 

I wish I could see in all our farmers a disposition to magnify 
their calling; but I have been grieved in many a farm-house, to 
listen to lamentations over what they term their " hard lot." I 
have heard the residents upon a noble farm, all paid for, talk 
about drudgery, and never having their work done, and few or 
no opportunities for the children ; and I have especially been 
sorry to hear the females lament over the hard fate of some 
promising youth of seventeen or eighteen, who was admirably 
filling up his duties, and training himself for extensive useful- 
ness and influence. They have made comparison between his 
situation, coarsely clad and working hard, and coming in fa- 
tigued, with some cousin at college, or young man who clerked 
it in a city store, till at length the boy has become dissatisfied, 
and begged off' from his true interests and happiness. I am 
conversant with no truer scenes of enjoyment than I have wit- 
nessed in American farm-houses, and even log cabins, where the 
father, under the influence of enlightened Christianity and sound 
views of life, has gone with his family, as the world have termed 
it, into the woods. The land is his own, and he has every in- 
ducement to improve it ; he finds a healthy employment for 
himself and family, and is never at a loss for materials to occu- 
py his mind. I do not think the physician has more occasion 
for research than the farmer ; the proper food of vegetables 
and animals will alone constitute a wide and lasting field of in- 
vestigation. The daily journal of a farmer is a source of much 
interest to himself and others. The record of his labours, the 
expression of his hopes, the nature of his fears, the opinions of 
his neighbours, the results of his experiments, the entire sum to- 
tal of his operations, will prove a deep source of .pleasure to any 
thinking man. If the establishment of agricultural societies, 
and the cattle shows of our country, should have the effect of 
stimulating one farmer in every town to manage his land and 
stock upon the best principles of husbandry, there would be a 
wonderful and speedy alteration in the products of the earth, 
because comparison would force itself upon his friends and 
neighbours ; and his example would be certainly beneficial, for 
prejudice itself will give way to profit. 



20 

I know an individual who, at a great expense of money and 
travel, carried, hundreds of miles, a pair of fine imported Berk- 
shires : his fellow farmers around were large raisers of pork, 
and their swine were, without exception, of the genuine land 
pike and alligator breed, all leg and snout; well, they crowded 
to see the new pigs, admired their shape, did not like their colour, 
did not think they were " so great, after all," and thought that 
one hundred dollars invested in two pigs was " quite ridiculous." 
The result, however, was, that the farmers were soon willing to 
help pay for the original outlay, for they quickly became dis- 
satisfied with their own rail-like breed ; and I have since seen, 
at the piggery of a flour mill two miles off, more than fifty half 
blooded Berkshires, and all through the township they are get- 
ting a better article for pork and hams. 

The prejudices of the farmers to new ways, fresh breeds, and 
book farming, are all destined to give way. I am sure that a 
remark which that great man, De Witt Clinton, made in 1825, 
in relation to American invention, that we were " a people that 
had no stand still in us," is perfectly applicable to us as agri- 
culturists. Our farmers have eyes, they can all see, and they 
will learn. I am acquainted with a vicinity where a root crop 
had never been raised as a principal resource for cattle. An 
experiment in 1838, has now twenty rivals, all at first slow to 
believe, but quick to follow ; and all their working cattle this 
winter will have cause for thanksgiving. In that same town a 
man has converted a soil, marred by the salts of iron, into valu- 
able ground, by the free use of lime ; a course to which he was 
advised by a neighbour who took the Cultivator. And here let 
me say, that in 1840, on a long western journey, I one day re- 
marked to my friend, that I thought I could give a pretty shrewd 
guess, from observation as w r e went along, as to the fact whether 
the occupants of the farms took any agricultural papers: 
in thirteen trials I made but one wrong guess. It is important 
that the doings of this society, good agricultural reports, books 
and periodicals, be circulated among the farmers; because 
improvements and the alterations of established customs and 
habits are very slowly admitted, and the farmer oftentimes, from 
his retired position, unless he is addicted to reading, is likely to 



21 

acquire very little knowledge of his art, but that which is tra- 
ditional and peculiar to his vicinity. We should do much for 
our state, if we could put forth a periodical into every farm- 
house ; one that would keep pace with the times, and afford the 
earliest notice of every important invention or discovery in ru- 
ral life. I never take up the Ploughboy, the New-York Farmer, 
and especially the Cultivator, without an earnest wish that such 
admirable pages of wisdom and experience, and plain, round- 
about common sense, could be scattered in every farm-house in 
America, and its volumes placed in every city habitation. I do 
not know a more amusing or instructive set of volumes than 
Bud's Cultivator. I almost envy that good great man his claims 
upon national gratitude. 

I wish I could induce the father of every family to give this 
work a place in his house at Christmas, for the benefit of his 
children ; the practical information which they would gain from 
it, and their acquaintance with things of rural life, would richly 
repay the expenditure, and this knowledge would all come into 
useful play.* I know a youth, the son of a president of a city 
bank, a boy of eighteen, who gravely asked how long it took to 
bring a crop of wheat and barley to perfection, and what ani- 
mals were called neat cattle ; and yet this lad was deemed well- 
educated and accomplished, in the circle in which he moved. 

We all know how much is done by oral instruction ; how often 
men are more affected by what they hear than what they read ; 
and this has induced me to wish that suitable, and, of course, well- 
qualified men, could go through every portion of our state, and 
address the population of every vicinity on the great subject of 
the improvements in husbandry, and urge the cultivators of the 
soil to a generous rivalry. The man who went out upon this 

* I am happy to state, that Mr. A. B. Allen has commenced another periodical 
devoted to agriculture. It is published in New-York, and is called " The American 
Farmers' Magazine," a monthly, at two dollars a year. No writer in our 
country brings more thorough practical skill and a larger share of science to the 
subject than Mr. Allen. His magazine will, I doubt not, be a standard authority, 
New-York city ought to furnish it with a large number of subscribers. Our mer- 
chants depend so much upon the production of the soil, that their very business in- 
terests demand that they should be acquainted with the farming interests of the state 
and country, and Mr. Allen will give such statistics as are adapted to their use. 



22 

task should not go forth as the profound scholar, or the refined 
gentleman, but as a plain, honest-hearted citizen, who had an 
important subject to talk about, and valuable information to 
diffuse. 

I believe that such an agency would be productive of the 
happiest results. It would do much to overcome prejudice ; the 
individual would drop the seed of suggestion upon much good 
ground; he would acquire immense practical information. 
There are a hundred things which a wise man could do upon 
such a tour that we can hardly hope to effect by our publica- 
tions. Improvements in fencing, especially in building, could 
be pointed out and explained ; the abatement and removal of 
absolute nuisances could be judiciously hinted at and enforced 
in good natured conversation, and the cultivation of fruit recom- 
mended. I know a gentleman who prides himself on having 
induced several farmers to get up woodpiles, where formerly 
daily fuel was only to be obtained by daily prayer and coaxing 
and scolding, on the part of all the women, to all the men in 
the establishment. 

It is to be deplored, that in many parts of the country the 
farm-house makes so little pretension to external beauty, and 
that it is destitute of those attractions which are always at the 
command of the occupant. 

How many abodes do we know that are almost without gar- 
dens, and quite without flowers. It is the part of wisdom to 
make our habitations the home of as many joys and pleasures 
as possible, and there ought to be a thousand sweet attractions 
in and around the sacred spot we call our homes. 

This feeling is perfectly philosophical. The fragrance of the 
rose that is plucked at the door of the cottage, is sweeter in 
odour to the poor man, who has assiduously reared it there amid 
difficulties and discouragements, than if it were culled from the 
" parterre" of the palace ; and the root which he has dug from 
his own little garden is more grateful to his palate than if it were 
the purchased product of unknown hands ; and this argument, 
if it be true when applied to individuals, is equally valid on the 
broad principle of nations. 

O, we greatly need something more of the sweet and beau- 



23 

tiful about our houses and cottages, that shall make childhood, 
youth and age all cry out, "there is no place like home." In 
your summer rambles away from the hot city, you go to the 
farm-houses of this and other states ; now just think how differ- 
ently your memory calls up various houses at which you have 
sojourned. You can think of spots like paradise, and there are 
others that you recollect, and there are only the capabilities for 
improvement and fine opportunities for the hand of industry and 
good taste. How well we recall to mind the pretty white cot- 
tage, the deepgreenblinds, the painted trellis, the climbing shrub, 
the neat garden fence, the sweetly scented flowers, the entire air 
of comfort, and how we long again to enjoy the bliss of quietness 
and repose. 

I believe a garden spot exerts a salutary influence, not only 
in early life, but in the advanced periods of human existence. 
" O, how much sweeter is it to me," said Madame De Genlis, " to 
recall to my mind the walks and sports of my childhood, than 
the pomp and splendour of the palaces I have since inhabited. 
All these courts, once so splendid and brilliant, are now faded ; 
the projects which were then built with so much confidence are 
become chimeras. The impenetrable future has cheated alike 
the security of princes and the ambition of courtiers. Ver- 
sailles is drooping into ruins. I should look in vain for the ves- 
tages of the feeble grandeur I once admired ; but I should find 
the banks of the Loire as smiling as ever, the meadows of St. 
Aubyn as full of violets and lilies of the valley, and its trees 
loftier and fairer. There are no vicissitudes for the eternal 
beauties of nature ; and while, amid blood-stained revolutions, 
palaces, columns, statues disappear, the simple flowers of nature, 
regardless of the storm, grow into beauty, and multiply for ever." 

Hannah More felicitated herself through life on her attach- 
ment to the garden, and declared to an American friend, that in 
her eighty-third year the love of flowers was the only natural 
passion left to her which had lost none of its force. 

I am unhappy when I see a farm without a garden, and al- 
most so in a house without flowers. I believe all who possess 
sensibility are fond of plants, and I also believe that at some 
period or other of life the predilection will break out. I think 



24 

nature indicates the garden as man's proper place ; for the infant 
can hardly walk before he is found planting a flower. Every 
boy loves a garden — a garden of his own ; every sailor talks 
about his garden, and some old sailors can show us rare ones. 
Napoleon and Siddons, Washington and Jefferson, in their re- 
tirement from life's busy scenes, are found in the garden. 

As far as I have noticed, the greatest admirers and most pas- 
sionate cultivators of flowers are females and manufacturers. 
I was much pleased, at the exhibition in New-Haven last week, 
to observe that the choicest fruits and flowers came from the 
care of the ladies ; and the manufacturing classes in England and 
Scotland, especially in Staffordshire and Lancashire, and vicinity 
of Paisley, are enthusiastic florists, and derive much enjoyment 
from their gardening societies ; they regard gardening as a relax- 
ation. It is not undeserving of a notice on this occasion, that a 
mechanic* who labours daily in our city, has agarden in Williams- 
burgh, where he can show a finer collection of flowers than is 
possessed by most rich men, and his dahlias are now adorning our 
agricultural room at the Garden. 

" Flowers, of all created things, are the most innocently sim- 
ple, and most superbly complex — playthings for childhood, 
ornaments of the grave, and companions of the cold corpse ! 
" Flowers, beloved by the wandering idiot, and studied by the 
deep thinking man of science ! Flowers, that unceasingly ex- 
pand to heaven their grateful, and to man their cheerful looks 
— partners of human joy, soothers of human sorrow ; fit em- 
blems of the victor's triumph, of the young bride's blushes ; wel- 
come to the crow : ded halls, and graceful upon solitary graves ! 
Flowers are, in the volume of nature, what the expression ' God 
is love' is in revelation. What a desolate place would be a 
world without a flower ! It would be a face without a smile, 
a feast without a welcome. Are not flowers the stars of the 
earth ? And are not stars the flowers of heaven 1 One cannot 
look closely at the structure of a flower without loving it. 
They are the emblems and manifestations of God's love to the 
creation ; and they are the means and the ministration of man's 

* Mr. Tucker. 



25 

love to his fellow creatures, for they first awaken in his mind a 
sense of the beautiful and good. The very inutility of flowers 
is their excellence and great beauty, for they lead us to thoughts 
of generosity and moral beauty, detached from and superior to 
selfishness : so that they are pretty lessons in nature's book of 
instruction, teaching man that he liveth not by bread alone, but 
that he hath another than animal life." 

1 think it will appear to all who have visited our best herds 
and seen the state of the English cattle shows, that the time 
has arrived when we should breed for ourselves ; and, with our 
climate in New- York, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky, so favour- 
able for our purpose, and perhaps even for exportation, I 
know men who think we may not have to wait one hundred 
years to repay favours to our friends in England. Only let us 
keep Our high blood pure, and bring up judicious selections to 
the best pure blood bulls, and breed steadily toward the Durham, 
and I expect we shall have cattle that will reflect as much 
credit upon their breeders as the milk pots of Col. Jaques, or 
the short horns or alloys of Collings. One thing I am quite 
satisfied of, and that is, that we have no further need of extensive 
importation in short horns. I think their value cannot well be 
overrated for milking qualities or for beef. If any are sceptical 
on the latter point, I beg their particular attention to a pair of 
steers which Mr. Townsend will exhibit next week for compe- 
tition, and which weigh 2,615 lbs. each.* 

In relation to the cattle, I have hardly time to say much ; nor 
perhaps is this the best place, though something may be ex- 
pected. It is well known, that for a few years past much 
attention has been directed to this subject, and very heavy 
investments have been made in the improved breeds. The 
best herds of England have been inspected ; and we have now 
in New- York, New- Jersey, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky, some 
of the choicest animals that have been reared. Great praise 
is due to such men as Van Rensselaer, Prentiss, Corning, Rotch, 



* These noble animals afterwards received the silver cup at the Fair. They 
are returned to New-Haven, and will probably have an addition of 500 lbs. to theiv 
individual weight when they are brought to the market. 

4 



26 

Lossing, Bement, Pope, Giddings, Whitney, Townsend, Poole, 
Renwick and Clay, who, at great expense, have brought among 
us the best blood of England. 

I trust that our farmers will avoid the grievous error of pre- 
ferring a breed whose services may be obtained cheaply, 
rather than selecting an animal of the highest merit. This, 
indeed, is to be " penny wise and pound foolish." 

I yesterday had the pleasure to accompany Mr. A. B. Allen, 
of Buffalo, who has just returned from an agricultural tour in 
England, on board the packet ship Hendrick Hudson, from 
London, for the purpose of inspecting the superior stock selected 
by him for himself and his friends. Several large previous 
importations had arrived by the packet ships Mediator and 
Wellington. This consists of South Down sheep, the great 
York and Kenilworth breeds of pigs, shepherd dogs, the large 
Dorking fowls, which are distinguished, like Goliah, by having 
an additional toe, English pheasants, &c. Of cattle, Mr. Allen 
has made no importation, principally on account of the disease 
which is at present pervading all England, and he was fearful 
of importing that with them, to the injury of our present stock. 
He however concurs with me in the opinion, that New- York, 
Ohio and Kentucky, with the exception of one herd, may even 
now challenge all England in the breed of short horns; and this 
is his judgment, after having attended the Royal Agricultural 
Society's Exhibition at Liverpool, and the still finer one of 
Durhams, long-wooled sheep and horses, at Hull, Yorkshire, 
and examining the celebrated herds of Earl Spencer, Mr. Bates, 
and other eminent breeders. Mr. Allen thinks very favourably 
of Herefords, but more so of some very large and improved 
South Devons. The celebrated Ayrshires he greatly admires; 
but for the most delicate knife, and for a source of real profit 
to the grazier, he thinks highly of the Scotch Highlanders, as 
now raised by a few choice breeders. These animals are but 
of medium size; they are occasionally of dun colour, more 
commonly black, without horns, and very hardy and thrifty. 
There can be no doubt that they would suit the climate of 
New-England. 

If any of you, gentlemen, wish to investigate the history of 



27 

the improved breed of Durhams, I would advise you to consult 
" Cully on Live Stock," a work, I have reason to believe, quite 
as much to be depended upon, as the more recent treatise by 
the Rev. Henry Berry. It may not be amiss to say, that we 
can trace back the short horns for nearly two hundred years. 
Sir H. Smythson then used to weigh out food to his cattle, and 
his notes upon his herd, as to the eye, horns, hoof, hide, all 
indicate the identity of this breed. It is an interesting fact, 
and probably known to very few, that while Lord Percy was 
engaged in this country during the Revolution, his steward sent 
the celebrated herd, one by one, to the shambles. At the return 
of Lord Percy, he found the butcher carrying off the very last 
cow, which he rescued from the knife, and thus preserved the 
breed. 

Mr. Allen thinks that in horses we are far superior to Eng- 
land. There is nothing there equal to our American trotters. 
Their cart horses carry more flesh, but have not the muscle of 
our heavy Pennsylvania horses ; nor are they as enduring in 
their work, or as strong at a pull, and are much coarser in their 
conformation, with long hair below the knee, and heavy fet- 
locks, that gather mud, give them disease, and hinder quick 
movement. Even our racers, he thinks, would beat England as 
weight carriers, at three or four mile heats, but does not know, 
owing to their very fine training, and the soft springing turf on 
the course, but the English horse might be quicker a few 
seconds for a single heat ; but, generally, that ours have the most 
bottom or endurance, he has not a doubt. He thinks our cli- 
mate greatly superior to that of England for breeding these no- 
ble animals ; and if we only pay close attention to this depart- 
ment of husbandry, we may become large exporters, especially 
of roadsters. Our horses are already much talked about and 
inquired after abroad ; and Mr. Allen tells me he rode after 
some quite ordinary American horses that had been taken to 
England, which were highly prized, beating every thing upon 
the road with perfect ease. 

The South Downs which I saw yesterday, I hardly know how 
to speak of; they must be seen to be understood. You have 
often heard travellers' stories about English mutton ; well, let 



28 

the incredulous go and look at these importations. Three of 
them are brought out by Mr. Allen for the Hon. Mr. Stevenson, 
late Minister at St. James ; three for Bishop Meade, of Vir- 
ginia ; five for Mr. Rotch, of Butternuts, Otsego county, N. Y. 
Mr. Stevenson has been abroad six years, and after visiting all 
the flocks of note, prefers the South Downs to all others ; and 
Dr. Meade and Mr. Allen concur fully in this opinion. I have 
heard it doubted whether the South Downs are adapted to our 
hard northern climate ; to this I would say, that they have been 
found to endure a Scotch winter even better than the Cheviots, 
at an elevation of two thousand feet above the sea. 

These sheep were selected from the celebrated stock of Jonas 
Webb, Esq., of Babraham, Cambridge, who carried off all the 
prizes this year at the show of the Royal Agricultural Society. 
These animals are of great size for Downs, of the most finished 
form, of a fleece about equal, I think, to three quarters blood 
Merino, and as thick and close as felt. The bucks will shear 
from ten to eleven and a half pounds per annum, and are of great 
weight ; those of Bishop Meade and Mr. Stevenson are of two 
hundred and forty-eight and two hundred and 'fifty-four pounds, 
though only eighteen months old, while that of Mr. Rotch, a 
lamb of six months, is one hundred and fifty-two pounds. Mr. 
Webb killed a wether last Christmas which weighed, dressed, 
with the head on, two hundred. The sire of Mr. Rotch's buck, 
as the best yearling in all England, took the prize of thirty- 
sovereigns from the Royal Agricultural Society at Liverpool, 
and is now merely let to the Duke of Newcastle for the present 
season at one hundred sovereigns! The shepherd's dog I think 
remarkably beautiful ; he is of a medium size, of shining black 
colour, with long and glossy hair. The breed is so good and 
true, that they break themselves in, to guard and drive sheep on 
the extensive ranges of hill and down, without any training. 
He is almost as active as the greyhound, and very docile and in- 
telligent. The introduction of dogs into agricultural use would 
be of great service, and especially in driving flocks to city mar- 
kets. The Dorking fowls are of immense size, often weighing 
eight pounds dressed, and all sportsmen know the beauty of the 
English cock pheasant. I am happy to inform you that my 



29 

friend, Mr. Allen, will soon favour the public with an article 
upon the history and pedigree of South Downs, with a series 
of engravings. 

In relation to pigs, it is well known that Mr. Allen has long 
been one of the most extensive and successful breeders ; his 
learned article, which appeared in Albany, has been reprinted 
in London, and excites much attention. To examine the breeds 
of England was one great object of his tour, and in the inves- 
tigation of this matter he travelled many hundreds of miles. 

He still pronounces the Berkshire the best, combining the 
finest qualities, and, he thinks, yielding a sufficient size. He 
saw the best Chinese, the wild boar, the German boar, and all 
the crosses which have been procured. 

Our good friends in Kentucky, who " go the whole hog," re- 
gard the Berkshires as only approximations to bacon excellence, 
and have always been asking northern breeders to furnish them 
length, length. Well, I think Mr. Allen will satisfy them now, 
he has a breed which he can easily fat to weigh fourteen hun- 
dred ; he saw one exhibited in England, and, strange as it may 
sound, under the patronage of Queen Victoria, which he mea- 
sured. From the tip of nose, over his head, to the tail, nine 
feet nine inches ; from the tip of nose, along the side, to the 
end of the rump, seven feet nine inches ; in height four feet, girt 
round the breast seven feet seven inches. This is the stock 
from which Mr. Allen has shown me specimens. 

The details of the Agricultural Society at Liverpool afford 
the most interesting proof of the fresh impetus which the cause 
of improved husbandry has received. The best men in Eng- 
land, in all walks of life, are becoming interested. Noblemen 
may be seen in their gaiters and nailed shoes, cuffs turned up, 
examining cattle and guiding ploughs. Young noblemen, leav- 
ing their habits of dissipation, are joining the masses of the 
people, doing what they can to advance the true interests of the 
land. 

It is gratifying to know that Mr. Allen has received the kind- 
est attention from the gentlemen who are engaged in agricul- 
ture, and has been treated with the greatest confidence ; and it 
is to be hoped that the results of his tour may be speedily laid 
before the public. 



30 

I close by indulging myself and gratifying my audience by 
quoting a passage from a work which I strongly commend you 
to purchase. Read it, read it again ; it will do the young man 
more good than he will get from any half dozen novels that have 
been published this year ; it is Howitt's Rural Life in England; 
I have placed it, by recommendation, in the hands of several 
friends, and they have all been delighted with the work. 

" There is no class of men, if times are but tolerably good, 
that enjoy themselves so highly as farmers ; they are little kings. 
Their concerns are not huddled up into a corner, as those of the 
town tradesman are. In town, many a man who turns thou- 
sands per week is hemmed in close by buildings, and cuts no 
figure at all. A narrow shop, a contracted warehouse, without 
an inch of room to turn him on any hand, without a yard, a 
stable, or outhouse of any description, perhaps hoisted aloft, 
up three or four pairs of dirty stairs, is all the room that the 
wealthy tradesman can often bless himself with, and there day 
after day, month after month, year after year, he is to be found, 
like a bat in the hole of a wall, or a toad in the heart of a stone 
or of an oak tree. Spring, and summer, and autumn go round ; 
sunshine and flowers spread over the world ; the sweetest 
breezes blow, the sweetest waters murmur along the vales, but 
they are all lost upon him ; he is the doleful prisoner of Mammon, 
and so he lives and dies. The farmer would not take the wealth 
of the world on such terms. His concerns, however small, 
spread themselves out in a pleasant amplitude both to his eye 
and heart. His house stands in its own spacious solitude ; his 
offices and out-houses stand round extensively, without any stub- 
born and limiting contraction ; his acres stretch over hill and 
dale ; there his flocks and herds are feeding ; there his labourers 
are toiling — he is king and sole commander there. He lives 
among the purest air and the most delicious quiet. Often, when 
I see those healthy, hardy, full-grown sons of the soil going out 
of town, I envy them the freshness and the repose of the spots 
to which they are going. Ample old fashioned kitchens, with 
their chimney corners of the true, projecting, beamed and 
seated construction, still remaining ; blazing fires in winter, 
shining on suspended hams and flitches, guns supported on 



31 

hooks above, dogs basking on the hearth below ; cool shady- 
parlours in summer, with open windows, and odours from 
garden and shrubbery blowing in ; gardens wet with purest 
dews, and humming at noontide with bees ; and green fields and 
verdurous trees, or deep woodlands lying all around, where a 
hundred rejoicing voices of birds or other creatures are heard, 
and winds blow to and fro, full of health, and life-enjoyment. 
How enviable do such places seem to the fretted spirits of towns, 
who are compelled not only to bear their burden of cares, but 
to enter daily into the public strife against selfish evil and ever 
spreading corruption. When one calls to mind the simple 
abundance of farm-houses, their rich cream and milk, and un- 
adulterated butter, and bread grown upon their own lands, 
sweet as that which Christ broke, and blessed as he gave to his 
disciples ; their fruits, ripe and fresh plucked from the sunny 
wall, or the garden bed, or the pleasant old orchard ; when one 
casts an eye upon, or calls to one's memory the aspect of those 
houses, many of them so antiquely picturesque, or so bright 
looking and comfortable, in deep retired valleys, by beautiful 
streams or among fragrant woodlands, one cannot help saying 
with King James of Scotland, when he met Johnny Armstrong, 

" What want these knaves that a kins; should have*!" 



